9.30.2012

Yesterday was my upcycling workshop as part of Culture Days. After going to the Engaging Community Through Creative Cardmaking workshop on Thursday night, I was pretty darn excited about my first workshop. Nothing more fun than making stuff with strangers, becoming friends, sharing crafty ideas, etc. And the best part of of my workshop was working with my buddy Heidi, the Fiction Librarian at the North Vancouver City Library, on organizing the event then getting it set up. Yay!

It was a truly amazing and touching experience. Thanks to all who showed up! We had 28 participants ranging from youths to seniors. And each person was super keen to be there, make stuff and meet new people. A successful workshop indeed!

Note: a friend took some photos of the workshop for me so I'll post pics soon.

Well it's been amazing week to say the least! Been working too darn much but otherwise I've managed to fit in some crafty outings. With my upcoming workshop for Culture Days, I decided to sign up for a free card making workshop at the Roundhouse Community Centre. The Roundhouse is such a great community centre - it's where I took the woodworking course.

The cardmaking workshop was super fabulous and eased my mind about my workshop. You realize it's not necessarily about what you do for a workshop but the people who attend. That's why I truly loved the Engaging Community Through Creative Cardmaking workshop put on by Papergirl and Caede's Cards. I had fun, made a pretty kookie card and made some new friends. Total score... And the workshop was free!

Here I am with my new friend LaVerne picking out supplies for my card.

I picked out a fortune, butterfly, some hearts of course then started placing them on the blank card.

My card is starting to come together...

I used the sewing machine along the top and bottom...

And here it is - my crazy card full of love and joy.

Big thanks to Eryne at Papergirl and to Caede at Caede's Cards for putting on such a great event. And to my partner-in-crime/crafty date, Flory Huang - always a fun night out with Flory.

9.23.2012

I'm prepping for the upcycling workshop next weekend. I made a few attempts at cards using old maps and newspapers. My first attempt was not the best. I had to rein things in and keep the process and materials super basic.

I've managed to collect a bunch of old maps from friends. I should be good to go for supplies!

I have a few old City of Vancouver bike maps. They're super colourful which is great! I decided to use one of these for my card.

This is my idea - a heart and then the words 'I would travel the world for you'.

I began by cutting out the heart. I love how the words 'City Limits' run up the middle of my heart!

And here's my newspaper that I'll cut up before recycling it.

The most time consuming part of this project was finding the text for the card. It took me a bit to find the copy. I ended up changing the text based on what I found. I actually like it better - 'I would travel across continents to be with you'.

Here's the final card... I used a bit of glue stick to get things in place then white glue to seal it up. Easy peasy... And cheap.

I also made some more fridge magnets. I used old stamps this time. I was inspired by Foxglove Accessories - she makes jewelry from vintage stamps. Very funky!

I've had these stamps for years. I have a collection of stamps from Japan and Russia. I thought these stamps would work perfectly for the fridge magnets. Loving my glue gun!

I decided to cut up the subway map. I used the small glass gems for the map fridge magnets. I traced an outline of the glass gem then cut out the shape.

I then added glue to the glass gem. I used a modge podge type of glue. I'm sure white glue would work just as well. Once the glue was on, I added the cut out. Then trimmed the edges.

I used the larger glass gems for the paper from Michaels. I ended up trimming these with scissors and not my X-Acto knife. The X-Acto knife tore the paper a bit.

Next step was plugging my glue gun in and adding the magnets to the back. You can see on the front fridge magnet that the paper got a bit torn from the X-Acto knife. The nice thing with this project is you can get away with less than perfect trimming.

And here they are! 5 fridge magnets in no time! Gotta love that!

Next project will be customizing cards using old travel maps. I started on one but I may have to rethink how I want to create these.

9.08.2012

I'm finally getting to some craftiness this weekend. A nice, long bike ride this morning and now I'm ready to get to work. Here's the workshop I'll be putting on at the North Vancouver City Library. It'll be on September 29 and will be part of North Shore Culture Days. They'll be tons of fun, creative, free stuff going on September 28, 29 and 30 so be sure to get out there and find some nifty activities to be part of.

The workshop is being promoted on the library's website as well as featured on the Arts Office website. Hopefully someone shows up for it!

I was trying to come up with some ideas for easy and cheap projects to share. I decided to repurpose old travel maps. I have a few from my trips and have gathered a few from friends. Travel maps are great during your trip then when you don't need them anymore and they're super tattered - what do you do with them?

I have 3 projects in mind so I want to test them out before I present them at the workshop - best to work out the kinks on your own instead of in front of a bunch of strangers!

First step for tracking down projects - start checking out blogs and DIY sites for inspiration.

I found this fridge magnet tutorial on Instructables that is project #1. Easy to make, only a few items to track down and super cheap!

I lucked out at Michaels - everything was 50% off and then 20% off of that. So I went to town. I picked up 2 sizes of clear glass gems. Ideally, if I had time, I would try to find these in a thrift store but I'm a bit under the gun.

I then picked up 2 sizes of magnets...

And after years of crafting, I finally bought my very own glue gun. I'm actually excited to test it out. Hopefully it won't be too messy!

I also bought a selection of papers. They are so darn pretty! If I can get into the swing of things with the magnets, I can make a set out of this paper. I'll probably package these up and give them away.

After conquering fridge magnets then I'll be making cards and gift tags. I have a couple of ideas for the cards that I'm super pumped about. I need to figure out an idea for the text I want to include - maybe I can grab text from old newspapers. My printing, after years of computer work, is atrocious so that's not an option!

Other Crafty Adventures

I'm getting around to hanging more frames these days. Small tasks but good to get them done. I want a wall of frames with cork boards, mirrors, photos and prints. I'm getting there!

These frames need new prints and photos. Feels weird to have photos of somebody else's family.

I actually got some of my Instragram photos printed. They end up looking pretty darn FAB. This is a set I framed for my friend Marnie. Her kids are so sweet!

And my Instragram poster has finally been framed and hung in my living room. Love it! The frame was super cheap at Michaels and was the perfect size for the poster. I managed to hang everything on my own without any mishaps. Phew!

Oh and I found these cork placemats at Superstore last weekend. I have some Ikea circular cork mats I picked up at the thrift store that I think will be getting an update soon enough! I still have a bunch of vinyl for stenciling and lots of paint.

Denise Corcoran (aka Thrifty By Design) is a local author, crafter, upcycler and workshop facilitator based in North Vancouver, BC. Her passion is to turn 'junk' into new and funky pieces. She shares her enthusiasm for crafting and upcycling by facilitating 'Crafternoons' throughout Vancouver.